Moen Shower Cartridge Removal Tool

I found a message that was identical to the problem that I am having. The problem is the reply with the solution was nowhere to be found. The message was from 1998 and they thanked Terry for his help so I know the solution was given. Below is the text of the original post:

Posted by Rick and Christine on May 03, 1998 at 16:21:00:

Terry, Our shower waterflow will not turn fully turn-off. The shower fixture is a Moen with a push/pull handle. we removed the cover and see a brass stem/cartridge, where do we go from here to remove to make repair or replace. The unit has to be over 10 years old. There is a chrome sleeve over the stem.. is the chrome sleeve removable to get to the stem/cartridge.. Thanks for a great service.....
Water turned off in California.
fax 916-939-1834

Can someone either point me to the original answer or generate a new one?

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately now I have a "real" problem. I went to the hardware store and purchased the replacement cartridge and set about removing the old one. First, the plastic tool that they provided was nowhere near up to the task of removing (or in fact even moving) the old cartridge. So I went back to the hardware store and purchased a Moen Cartridge Removal tool. This worked "better" but in the end it broke off both of the brass tabs of the old cartridge and popped out only the core of the cartridge. So what I have now is the brass encasement of the old cartridge still very much in place. Anyone have advice on how to remove this? I am considering going and purchasing an internal pipe wrench and attempting to remove it with that. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Some cartridge tools ( not the MOEN BRAND tool) have a long stem the same diameter as the inner stem you have removed. On the end is a spring-loaded pin which enters into one of the ports in the cartridge barrel and provides more leverage. It is a one-shot deal: if it fails, you now have the added problem of a tool stuck in your valve.

Many folks successfully use internal pipe wrenches or an easy-out extractor of the appropriate size.

Try spraying into the body some vinegar ; it helps loosen calciium deposits.

I have 4 differrent tools for removing a Moen stem and none are the perfect tool for removing every Moen stem. Recently I heard about inserting a short wooden dowel inside the core and then using a 1/2" bolt tap into the unit to "jack" it out. Sounds like it would work, although I would only have to do so if I did not have my other options.

Like Jimbo said once you break off the stem (I did that too) there is another tool shaped like a "T" that you need. It' s basically a handle with a long rod and a spring loaded "catch" on it. You insert it into the brass, outer shaft of the cartridge that is still in there. It has to be maneuvered to catch onto one of the holes in the brass shaft. Once it catches it pulls out. But, depending on how long the cartridge has been in there in may take some mighty tugging!!!! My was in there about 28 years (original from when the house was built) so it was really tough to get out.

I hope you have already solved the problem. Years ago, I had the same issue. I had to call Moen and get a live person to help. I found that I had to first put a small wood dowel in. It was just wide enough to fit loosely and maybe 1 inch or so lone. Do not need to be too exact. Then I used a tap to screw into the brass cartridge until the tap bottomed on the back of the fixture. Since the cartidge is a tube with an open end, i kept screwing the tap in and the cartridge was pulled out by the tap. The tap pushes on the dowel which pushes on the back of the fixture without metal to metal contact. Moen did tell me the exact size of dowel and tap I needed.

As I did not own one and it was night time, I had to put the old parts back overnight so that I could turn house water back on. I bought a cheap tap and die set and did the job quickly. I repeated the repair on all the other shower fixtures as they all wore out. The replacement cartridges are plastic and I have had no trouble getting those out.

I just did a tear out of my shower wall due to a leaking 27 year old Moen Cartridge - it looks like a fossil...

I'm getting ahead of myself... first, I determined that the faucet was leaking - not hard - then tried to remove the cartridge - VERY HARD. Broke off the brass ears with a homemade removal tool (fashioned from a deep well 13mm socket that I cut big notches in that fit into the housing). Then, trying to pull it out, I ended up pulling out the guts of the cartridge with a slide hammer - so I was left with the brass housing stuck in there. I haven't sweated joints apart or together before so couldn't replace the faucet... So...

I got on the Internet and looked for some tips to remove the guts and didn't see anything that filled me with confidence - afraid to destroy the whole housing... (except I got excited about the above article describing using a dowel stuck in there and tapping threads)

So... I used a 1/2 inch 20 pitch tap and cut threads into it about an inch and a half or so... went to Lowes and looked in the "C" hardened bolt drawer and got a couple different length hardened bolts and a bunch of washers - took it home and screwed it in and it pulled itself right out. It was beautiful. So, I put some grease on the new one... blew some air into the empty housing to clean out the brass shavings - cleaned it out a little with cloth and slid the new one in and aligned it with the plastic tool. The new one has GREAT action and does not leak - I used the danco brand brass replacement and danco brand grease... and will be using cement backer board for the wall and am reusing the old tiles by soaking them in buckets of soapy water. - Hope this post helps someone out there!!
Have a great day!

That's a good lesson to learn.
Repair all your faucets wheather you think they need it or not. They do need it. Wheather they are Moen or any other brand.
Those outer o-rings on the cartrige just weld themselves to the housing.
The water quality has an affect on that problem too.

The tool that my client produced looks just like this tool; which I located online.
However, due to the fact that the hexagonal section of this tool being made of "plastic" (Yes, Can you believe it ?) the tool was incapable of retrieving the remaining brass section of the cartridge because the plastic began to deform, eventually breaking, on the first attempt to use the tool. So now the threaded section of the tool and its spring loaded "catch pin" has lodged itself and cannot be pulled out. This valve body is inside the wall of a mobile home. The valve body is NOT secured and when I pull on it ... Everything moves ! (if I pull too hard on it, I just know that I will damage the tiled section of the resin based shower enclosure)

We have decided to cut into the rear of the shower enclosure wall and to replace the entire valve.

I'm home visiting my mother for the holidays in Southernish Ohio, and yesterday I noticed that the carpet in our hallway was wet. Come to find out, the 11 year old water heater was leaking. My father has recently passed away, so all of these repairs are sort of falling into my lap when I come visit (not that I mind - I like DIY stuff when it isn't threatening to kill or bankrupt us).

That being said, after replacing the water heater, our shower no longer has hot water. I think that the air shooting through the pipes yesterday after we replaced the water heater may have done the seals in on the cartridge. We have really bad calcium deposits in the water here - so it eats the seals out of everything.

I bought a new cartridge this morning (a 1222 - verified for our faucet), but like everyone else here, the old one just won't budge. I have not bought a puller yet (just tried vice grips on the stem/the cheap plastic thing they give you - which broke off one of the plastic ears on the cartridge), but am not above buying one if it will work.

The problem is that it is 2 days before Christmas, we have no other shower in the house, and there is no access to the back of the tub except through the wall of a (somewhat recently) remodeled kitchen with bricked paneling. There is a decent sized hole in the shower surround where one might be able to replace the entire manifold if needed, but I have a feeling the labor costs would be ungodly. I'm kind of afraid of tearing the stem out of this - right now it doesn't leak, it just doesn't give hot water...

I know each situation is unique - but would say, PB blaster/a good puller/prayer and a miracle give me a good chance at not ripping the stem from this thing, but getting the whole cartridge out? CLR and tapping don't work - and I have no idea what a plumber would charge to do this.

Thanks, and sorry for the long winded post - I am just a bit stretched out of my comfort zone with this.

"ExpertPlumber" and you had to replace the valve because you could not extract the core? Maybe change your name. I have NEVER had to do that using the right extractor. But I have had to remove that tool from a valve or two for other "expert plumbers", and have replace Moen valves when the customer used a hammer and chisel or a drill bit to remove it.

Once the inside of the cartridge is yanked out and the old jacket is left stuck in. I use a 3/8" wooden dowel rod cut to 1 1/2" long insert it into the hole. Then I run a 5/8 tap into the the jacket as it presses on the dowel rod it starts to pull out the stuck jacket.. This only failed on me once , in that case I ended up replacing the whole valve. Question did you remove the horseshoe shaped clip before trying to pull out the cartridge? You may of said it in the other posts but my eyes are getting hazy at this time of day.

I have seen a couple where the customer removed the cartridge without taking the clip out. It very nicely removes the front of the faucet body also. They had used the tap and wood peg method to jack it out.

My Moen shower/tub valve started leaking quite badly in the past 2 days
I did a quick search & found this forum
There is another forum I use - selfhelpforum, but it didn't have as much info as here. I like to find out what I need to do before replacing something. So the instructions here allowed me to pull the old valve & bring it with me to buy the replacement. The old one was stuck a bit, but soon slid out
The instructions with the replacement valve did have decent instructions.

I think the only thing I could add would be to note which side is hot & cold with the old valve installed before removing it. I've been in some houses that for whatever reason the hot & cold were reversed
Also to attach a tube & flush out the lines before installing the new valve

The other thing that I did not know is that without the cold supply on it would not work right? I thought I did something wrong, took it apart - 2x checked. Put it back together - same thing. Re-installed the old valve - same thing. Flushed out the line again, re-installed the new valve. Then started thinking....turned both shut-off valves on
Working great - no more leaks
It's amazing that even a small drip can waste 4-5 gallons a day of water

I have a new steam shower I'll be working on later this year
So I may be back
Thanks for the help